It seems like I've been planning my sister Lisa's baby shower for years. I've had a Secret Board on Pinterest called "DON'T LOOK LISA" for years now with pins of centerpieces and balloon arches and printables of baby shower bingo. With all the trouble she had getting to this point, I was afraid that my mom and I would never be able to give her the baby shower of her dreams, but then Baby Seth came along and everything changed. I eagerly awaited her gender reveal so I could finally go ahead with one of my theme ideas: mermaids for a girl or whales for a boy. When we were thinking of venues, my mother had the stroke of genius to have it at the aquarium, which was perfect for the underwater motif.

When I plan parties, I tend to try to DIY as much as I can, because I like to craft. This led me to​ make the favors for the shower. I was inspired by my cousin's wife Bonnie who makes excellent peppermint sugar scrubs every Christmas. Instead of sugar, I swapped it for sea salt to better fit the theme. I added blue food coloring and essential oils to make it smell like an ocean breeze (let's just all pretend an ocean breeze doesn't smell like low tide or fish butts). I wanted to use cute little whale tags but I couldn't find any I liked online, so instead I ordered blank discs and a metal stamp and hammered my own tiny whales onto each one.

I did about 20 and thought "Why do I do these things to myself?" but I was already invested, so I kept with it. This can-do-but-maybe-I-shouldn't-have attitude also led me to make every shower game in Photoshop, ​to iron endless decals onto onesies, and to take a fluid painting class with a friend to make Lisa a piece of artwork for the baby's nursery. Not to mention, I also had to create a second invitation as a decoy when Lisa suspected the shower was at the aquarium! I convinced her it was at another local restaurant and that the theme was rubber duckies by "accidentally" leaving the invitation out where she could find it. Needless to say, I was happy to get all the help I could from Lisa's sister-in-law Beth, who made the excellent onesie centerpieces that say "Whale Come Baby Seth"! I had no ideas whatsoever on that front, so I was so excited that she knocked it out of the park.

Thank you to everyone who came to Lisa's shower. She had a really amazing time and got so many wonderful gifts. Baby Seth is well set up! Several people gave her really beautiful handmade outfits and blankets, which were so special.​Here are my favorite photos from the day!